Mormons seems to have a peculiar--and prejudiced--fascination with tales
of a large, ominous, ape-like, black-skinned "Bigfoot" (who, they swear,
is actually Cain), condemned by the Mormon God to wander the Earth where
he ends up scaring the faithful into invoking the Mormon priesthood in
order to drive big, bad Bigfoot away.

For instance, one website, calling itself "The Utah County Sasquatch
Investigative Society," highlights a supposed "Mormon Connection"
encounter with Bigfoot involving early LDS convert, David Patten:

Yet another website, identifying itself as "Mormon Mentality: Thoughts and
Asides by a Peculiar People," headlines claims of Mormon encounters with
Bigfoot whom their Mormon observers claim as being Cain.

A self-described researcher on this last site writes about having produced
an historical investigative paper on latter-day Mormon run-ins with Cain,
alias Bigfoot:

"[My] paper is based on David Patten’s story of encountering Cain, whom he
described as very tall and covered in dark hair, in 1835, as described in
a letter published in Lycurgus Wilson’s biography of Patten. Spencer
Kimball copied the letter in 'Miracle of Forgiveness.'"

The writer also makes reference to Seth Lester's book, "Clan of Cain,"
describing it as follows:

"I . . . mention [that book] in the paper. Lester begins the novel by
fictionalizing Patten’s story in a prologue, then jumps forward to the
present day. He bases his Bigfoot mythology on the Patten story, and gives
Cain a family of other Bigfoot-type creatures."

Continuing, he claims, "I found evidence, including a poem referencing the
event by Eliza R. Snow and records of Quorum of the Twelve meetings, that
this story was widely circulated in the 19th century.

"In [the] Church Archives I found a similar story--a page marked 'from the
papers of E. Wesley Smith,' mission president in Hawaii in the 1920s and
brother of Joseph Fielding Smith, describing Wesley’s meeting with Cain,
and explaining that his brother told him of David Patten’s encounter. . .
. "

". . . As to [E. Wesley] Smith, I don’t have the materials on hand, but
the gist of it is as follows:

"The manuscript I cite is in [the] Church Archives. It describes Wesley
being attacked by a huge, hairy creature, whom Smith drives off in the
name of Christ and by the power of the priesthood. He then goes to Joseph
Fielding Smith, who tells Wesley that it was Cain, and gives him a copy of
Patten’s own story, which would seem to imply that Fielding believed it,
if the manuscript is to be believed."

"I tied all this evidence, together with numerous folk tales about Cain,
into 19th-century Mormon conceptions of evil, arguing that a physical,
embodied Cain represented the very material conception of the struggle
between good and evil that Mormon leaders expounded upon then--Heber
Kimball being harassed by demons in England and such.

"More recently, however, particularly after the ban on African men holding
the priesthood has been lifted, such conceptions of evil have shifted;
Cain is no longer seen as literally the father of the African race, as
folk doctrine once held, and evil is now experienced as wrong action
rather than in terms of demonic, physical confrontation.

"Thus, Cain’s identification as Bigfoot has provided Mormons with a way to
assimilate the claims of folktale with new conceptions of what Cain, the
embodiment of evil, should be like."

In the end, the researcher offers a qualifier of sorts:

". . . I’ve purposely avoided making my own judgment calls about truth
claims here--indeed, I avoid making arguments about it in the paper in
favor of merely discussing the ways Mormons have thought about the
folklore.

"However, none of the sources I’ve dug through describe Cain as being
translated; rather, they discuss his state as a 'curse'--Cain himself, in
the Patten story, describes himself as a 'very miserable creature, who
could not die;' Joseph Fielding Smith, in the Wesley Smith story, uses
similar wording that I don’t want to try to reproduce from memory.

"It is true that virtually all assume Cain has a body; there’s some minor
theology going on about his relationship to Satan because of that. The
state of that body, though, would lend credence to the curse rather than
translation theory--he’s warped and animalistic, universally describes as
hideous and almost subhuman. Far from a translated body."

Nelson spins the yarn of a character named "Alvin Sands" who claims to
have ultimately encountered Bigfoot, after having first become fascinated
consumed with reported sightings of the creature.

According to one of these sightings, Sands recounts that a logging truck
driver spotted a "a brown ape-man run[ning] down the road in front of his
logging truck. In another, he repeats the claim of someone out in the
woods chopping down lodgepole pine spotted "a 300-pound black-haired ape
man not more than 30 feet away, in broad daylight."

In Nelson's story, the Bigfoot-consumed Sands talks about setting for
himself "a cause, a mission, a goal . . . [of] gather[ing] all the
information I could about these strange animals."

Where does Sands turn in his efforts to acquire that information? To
resources provided by the Mormon Church.
Says Sands: "Through the periodical index in the Brigham Young University
library, I dug out and studied every article ever published on Bigfoot,
Sasquatch or the Abominable Snowmen."
_____

While author Nelson admits that his book's main tale is fictional (albeit
leaving that confession to its final pages), he acknowledges that "I
wonder about some of the other accounts . . . The people I personally
interviewed were convinced they had really seen what they described to me.
. . . As long as nobody finds a Sasquatch that can undergo scientific
scrutiny, the speculation will continue, as more and more sightings are
recorded. Bigfoot sightings began in the early 1800's when a trapper and
trader by the name of David Thompson reported in his log the discovery of
hug man-like tracks over 15 inches long. During the last 15 years nearly
1,000 sightings and tracks have been reported."

So, do true-believing, Cain-fearing Mormons actually subscribe to the
notion that Bigfoot is literally the evil, murderous brother of Abel?

Odds are that some of them definitely do--and they can blame their kooky
Mormon leaders for that mind-numbing and -dumbing notion.
_____

--ACCORDING TO TRADITIONAL MORMON BELIEF, BIGFOOT IS, IN FACT, CAIN

As mentioned earlier, a claimed sighting of Cain/Bigfoot was made by early
Mormon missionary David Patten:

" . . . David W. Patten, during his mission in the South . . . reported
that, as he rode his horse, a large Black man covered with hair appeared
beside him and told him that he was Cain and was going to destroy his
mission."

In support of the historic likelihood that the notion has circulated in
Mormon circles claiming LDS missionaries have actually spotted
Cain/Bigfoot, Spencer W. Kimball, in his book, "The Miracle of
Forgiveness," describes Patten's encounter with Cain in decidedly
Bigfoot-like terms:

"On the sad character Cain, an interesting story comes to us from Lycurgus
A. Wilson's book on the life of David W. Patten.

"From the book I quote an extract from a letter by Abraham O. Smoot giving
his recollection of David Patten's account of meeting 'a very remarkable
person who had represented himself as being Cain':

"'As I was riding along the road on my mule I suddenly noticed a very
strange personage walking beside me. . . . His head was about even with my
shoulders as I sat in my saddle. He wore no clothing, but was covered with
hair. His skin was very dark.

"I asked him where he dwelt and he replied that he had no home, that he
was a wanderer in the Earth and traveled to and fro. He said he was a very
miserable creature, that he had earnestly sought death during his sojourn
upon the earth, but that he could not die, and his mission was to destroy
the souls of men.

"About the time he expressed himself thus, I rebuked him in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ and by virtue of the Holy Priesthood, and commanded
him to go hence, and he immediately departed out of my sight. . . .'"

Others--including non-Mormons--have referenced Kimball's account as
evidence that Cain is (at least the mind of the Mormon true believer) the
legendary Bigfoot, as "told time and time again within the Mormon
religion."

". . . I would like to touch on a different aspect of Bigfoot and an
encounter that has been told time and time again within the Mormon
religion. My work takes me all over the United States for many different
training seminars and conferences. Recently, I met up with several people
of the Mormon faith.

"One of these people, knowing of my interest in Bigfoot, suggested that I
look into the 'Mormon connection,' The following story comes from my
research on this topic.

"David Patten was a Mormon Priest who traveled and preached the Mormon
gospel from 1832-1838. In author Spencer W. Kimball's book entitled 'The
Miracle of Forgiveness,' there is a passage where David Patten is quoted
regarding his meeting with 'a very remarkable person who had represented
himself as Cain.'"

--ACCORDING TO OFFICIAL MORMON DOCTRINE, CAIN WAS "CURSED" BY GOD WITH
BIGFOOT-LIKE BLACK SKIN AND APPEARANCE

While some nervous, publicity-sensitive Mormon apologists may attempt to
deny Mormon-manufactured lineage links between Cain and Bigfoot, the fact
remains that high LDS leaders like Kimball have made clear and undeniable
connections between a cursed black Cain/Bigfoot and people of African
lineage.

Indeed, it is a matter of basic LDS doctrine that Black people descended
from Cain.

To be sure, the Mormon Church has, from its earliest days and through the
mouth of its presidents and apostles, officially declared that the
black-skinned "curse of Cain" was made manifest by the Mormon God in the
skin pigmentation of those of African lineage.
_____

Joseph Smith preached that Blacks were the offspring of Cain, as recorded
in his own journal:

"In the evening debated with John C. Bennett and others to show that the
Indians have greater cause to complain of the treatment of the whites,
than the Negroes, or sons of Cain."

(Joseph Smith, "History of the Church," vol. 4, p. 501)
_____

Mormon Church president Brigham Young slurred people born with a black
skin, labeling them the depraved, decadent descendants of the murderous
Cain and consigning them to perpetual slavery, as willed and until ended
by the Mormon God:

"You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth,
uncomely, disagreeable and low in their habits, wild, and seemingly
deprived of nearly all the blessings of the intelligence that is generally
bestowed upon mankind.

"The first man that committed the odious crime of killing one of his
brethren will be cursed the longest of any one of the children of Adam.
Cain slew his brother. Cain might have been killed and that would have put
a termination to that line of human beings. This was not to be, and the
Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin.

"Trace mankind down to after the Flood, and then another curse is
pronounced upon the same race--that they should be the 'servant of
servants' and they will be, until that curse is removed; and the
Abolitionists cannot help it, nor in the least alter that decree.

"How long is that race to endure the dreadful curse that is upon them?
That curse will remain upon them, and they never can hold the Priesthood
or share in it until all the other descendants of Adam have received the
promises and enjoyed the blessings of the Priesthood and the keys thereof.
Until the last ones of the residue of Adam’s children are brought up to
that favorable position, the children of Cain cannot receive the first
ordinances of the Priesthood.

"They were the first that were cursed, and they will be the last from whom
the curse will be removed. When the residue of the family of Adam come up
and receive their blessings, then the curse will be removed from the seed
of Cain, and they will receive the blessings in like proportion . . . ."

To place the official stamp of doctrinal approval on his
"blame-Cain-for-the-Negroes" utterances, LDS president Young then closed
his above racist diatribe by declaring to the Mormon faithful assembled to
hear his words:

"I bless you all, inasmuch as you have desired and striven to do right, to
revere the name of Deity, and to exalt the character of his Son on the
earth. I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ! Amen."

Future president of the Mormon Church Wilford Woodruff also announced
that, according to official LDS doctrine, Blacks carried the
heaven-imposed, color-coded "curse" of Cain:

"What was that mark? It was the mark of blackness. That mark rested upon
Cain, and descended upon his posterity from that time until the present.

"Today there are millions of the descendants of Cain, through the lineage
of Ham, in the world, and that mark of darkness still rests upon them."

(Wilford Woodruff, "Millennial Star," vol. 51, p. 329)
_____

Further, according to the official LDS publication, the "Juvenile
Instructor,” the Mormon God punished those who had turned against the
divine will by creating them for Earth life as the black-tainted and
divinely-segregated seed of Cain, just as Mormons taught that he had
similarly cursed sinful Native Americans with a brown skin:

"The mark set upon Cain was without doubt such a mark as was placed upon
the descendants of the rebellious sons of Lehi . . . We are expressly
informed by that 'the Lord did cause a skin of blackness to come upon
them.'

"They were to be made loathsome to the people of God, unless they repented
of their iniquities. Not only did this curse fall upon them, but all they
who intermarried with them, or mingled with them, were cursed with the
same blackness and loathsomeness . . .

"From this it is very clear that the mark which was set upon the
descendants of Cain was a skin of blackness, and there can be no doubt
that this was the mark that Cain himself received; in fact, it has been
noticed in our day that men who have lost the spirit of the Lord, and from
whom his blessings have been withdrawn have turned dark to such an extent
as to excite the comments of all who have known them."

("Juvenile Instructor," vol. 26, p. 635)
_____

People of black skin, the Mormon Church's "Juvenile Instructor" also
declared, are supposedly identifiable as being “pure Negro”:

"Their skin is quite black, their hairy woolly and black, their
intelligence stunted, and they appear never to have arisen from the most
savage state of barbarism."

(ibid.)
_____

Continuing Mormonism's historic, bigoted blatherings, LDS apostle and
eventual LDS Church president Joseph Fielding Smith condescendingly taught
that people of African descent are the sub-par relatives of Cain:

"Not only was Cain called upon to suffer, but because of his wickedness he
became the father of an inferior race. . . .

". . . [W]e will hope that blessings may eventually be given to our Negro
brethren, for they are our brethren—children of God--notwithstanding their
black covering emblematical of eternal darkness." (

(Joseph Fielding Smith, "The Way to Perfection," pp. 101-102)
_____

Likewise, Joseph Fielding Smith’s son-in-law, apostle Bruce R. McConkie,
taught that people of African descent were cemented into the direct
genealogical lineage of Cain--with Cain being the original human son of
perdition:

"Though he was a rebel and an associate of Lucifer in pre-existence, and
though he was a liar from the beginning, whose name was ‘Perdition,’ Cain
managed to attain the privilege of mortal birth.

"Under Adam’s tutelage, he began in this life to serve God. He understood
the Gospel and the plan of salvation, was baptized, received the
priesthood, had a perfect knowledge of the position and perfection of God,
and talked personally with Deity.

"Then he came out in open rebellion, fought God, worshiped Lucifer, and
slew Abel. . . .

"As a result of his rebellion, Cain was cursed with a dark skin; he became
the father of the Negroes, and those spirits who are not worthy to receive
the priesthood are born through his lineage.

"He became the first mortal to be cursed as a son of perdition. As a
result of his mortal birth he is assured of a tangible body of flesh and
bones in eternity, a fact which will enable him to rule over Satan."

--ACCORDING TO MORMON DOCTRINE, DESCENDANTS OF CAIN RECEIVED THEIR
"CURSED" BLACK SKIN BECAUSE OF PRE-EXISTENT SIN

High-ranking Mormon leader and member of the Council of the Seventy B.H.
Roberts explained how it was that, through Cain, Blacks were cursed in
Mormonism's world with a dark skin:

"Now, why is it that the seed of Ham was cursed to the pertaining of the
Priesthood? Why is it that his seed could not have the right to the
Priesthood? Ham’s wife was named “Egyptus, which is forbidden: . . . and
thus from Ham sprang the race which preserved the curse in the land.” Was
she a descendant of Cain, who was cursed for murdering his brother?

"And was it by Ham marrying her, and she being saved from the flood in the
ark, that the race which preserved the curse in the land was perpetuated?

"If so, then I believe that race is the one through which it is ordained
those spirits that were not valiant in the great rebellion in heaven
should come; who rendered themselves unworthy of the Priesthood and its
powers, and hence it is withheld from them to this day." (B.H. Roberts, in
Joseph Fielding Smith, "The Way to Perfection."

(Salt Lake City, Utah: The Genealogical Society of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1958), pp. 104-105)
_____

LDS bigotry booster John J. Stewart, in his book, "Mormonism and the
Negro," defended this supposed color curse as a “divinely directed
policy," intended by God as punishment for Blacks' misbehavior in the
pre-existence--punishment that is manifested through the demonized,
dark-skinned lineage of Cain and that “has been affirmed by the Church
leaders of our day”:

"Cain, a son of Adam and Eve, apparently had quite a different record in
the Spirit world. He was likely one of the valiant ones there, and thus
was born into this world under the most favorable circumstances, of noble
sire and mother, and was even privileged to walk and talk with God.

"Yet, Cain fell to the temptations of Satan, rejected God, murdered his
brother Abel and thus brought upon himself a curse . . .

"Among the Negroid people, as indeed among all the races of the Earth,
there is infinite variety and degree of circumstances of birth, of
goodness, of opportunity or lack of it. There are Negroes born into
families of wealth and refinement, others who are blessed with great
talents and there are those born into the lowest classes of society in
Africa, in squalor and ignorance, living out their lives in a fashion akin
to that of the animals.

"Does not this infinite variety of circumstance give further evidence of
man’s being assigned that station in life which he has merited by his
performance in the pre-mortal existence?

"Note, also, that part of Cain’s curse was to have as his posterity those
spirits unable to bear the Priesthood in this life. In view of the
importance that humans rightly attach to their children, their posterity,
what greater curse could come upon Cain, as pertaining to this life? And
what could be more appropriate than for these spirits to have such a man
as Cain as their progenitor? . . .

"In the . . . scripture from Abraham . . . we have a reliable account of
the early genealogy of the Negro race, and in Abraham’s comments we have
further evidence of the divine direction in the LDS Church policy of not
allowing the Negro, the seed of Cain and Ham, to bear the Priesthood."

Stewart then adds this hollow-sounding caveat, before moving on to condemn
salvation-stopping marital race-mixing:

"There is nothing in Church policy that forbids nor discourages us from
extending brotherly Christian love to the Negro.

"This, however, does not and should not include intermarriage, for we
would bring upon our children the curse of Cain, or rather, we would bring
unto ourselves children from those spirits destined to be of the seed of
Cain."

(John J. Stewart, "Mormonism and the Negro: An Explanation and Defense of
the Doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints in Regard
to Negroes and Others of Negroid Blood" [Orem, Utah: Bookmark Division of
Community Press Publishing Company, 1960], pp. 39, 44-46, 53-54]
____

Similarly devoted to defending Mormonism's White supremacist race-based
curse of Cain, Mormon author John L. Lund, in his book, "The Church and
the Negro: A Discussion of Mormons, Negroes and the Priesthood," argues
that LDS prophets have definitively settled the question by confirming
that descendants of Cain were marked by the Mormon God with a dark skin:

"On the subject of the mark of Cain, our prophets have given all the
important information that is necessary for our salvation.

"Frankly, President Brigham Young has told us that the mark of Cain was a
'black skin.' . . . For the Latter-day Saint no further explanation is
required.

"However, it is not necessary to rely on this single statement to arrive
at this same conclusion. There are numerous references made by both
ancient and modern prophets that point to the fact that Cain was the
father of the race that became known as Negroid."

--OFFICIAL LDS FIRST PRESIDENCY STATEMENTS HAVE LINKED THE MORMON "CURSE"
OF A BLACK SKIN DIRECTLY TO CAIN

The LDS Church's First Presidency has officially defended the denial of
the LDS priesthood to Blacks on the basis of their Cain "curse," declaring
it to have been a divinely-commanded consequence arising from the supposed
sinful pre-mortal behavior of those who were eventually destined by the
Mormon God to be branded with blackness:

"The few known facts about our pre-Earth life and our entrance into
mortality must be taken into account in any attempt at an explanation . .
. [including] . . . the Negro . . . [being] punished or allotted to a
certain position on this Earth . . . through the loins of Cain because of
his [the Negro's] failure to achieve other stature in the spirit world.

(LDS Church First Presidency Statement, 17 August 1951, quoted in William
E. Berrett, "The Church and the Negroid People," Supplement to "Mormonism
and the Negro," pp. 16-18)
_____

Confirming its official race-based, pre-Earth life, curse-of-Cain
doctrine, the LDS First Presidency (this time in a 1947 letter to Dr.
Lowry Nelson, former head of Brigham Young University's Department of
Sociology) stated emphatically:

"Indeed, some of God's children were assigned to superior positions before
the world was formed. We are aware that some higher critics do not accept
his but the Church does.

"Your position seems to lose sight of the revelation of the Lord touching
the pre-existence of our spirits, the rebellion in heaven and the doctrine
that our birth into this life and the advantages under which we may be
born, have a relationship in the life heretofore."

The First Presidency concluded this official sanction of Mormon
Church-approved racial bigotry by declaring:

"We are not unmindful of the fact that there is a growing tendency,
particularly among some educators, as it manifests itself in [the] area,
toward the breaking down of race barriers in the matter of intermarriage
between whites and blacks but it does not have the sanction of the Church
and is contrary to Church doctrine."

(LDS First Presidency statement, quoted in Stewart, "Mormonism and the
Negro,” pp. 46-47)

*****

--SO, THIS IS HOW THE TRAJECTORY OF SKIN-COLOR "CURSING" TAKES ITS COURSE
IN THE MORMON REALITY MENTALITY:

--First, Cain murders Abel.

--Therefore, the Mormon God punishes Cain by cursing Cain with a black
skin.

--The Mormon God (whose apparent curse of choice is altering people's skin
color) also blights the pigment of those of African descent, punishing
them with a black skin as well, and then proceeds to channel them into a
deliberately- and divinely-decreed inferior non-White Earth life through
the lineage of the "cursed" Cain--all because they supposedly weren't
deservingly valiant in their pre-mortal lives to earn themselves a white
skin.

--Finally, according to historic LDS teaching, Mormons have actually
spotted Cain wandering around the Earth in modern times as a
black-skinned, hairy, loathsome, miserable and cursed creature--the
supposedly damned, decadent father of the Mormon God-punished and -black
swathed African race.
_____

Where's the nearest exit out of this hateful, primitive, silly,
superstitious Mormon Cult?

Hi Steve...nice post/article. I have an interest in cryptozoology (i.e.
the yeti, sasquatch, nessie, thunderbirds, etc.)

Sir Edmund Hillary came to the conclusion that the Yeti was actually the
rare Tibetan Blue Bear, Ursus arctos pruinosus. Reinhold Messner actually
claimed to have come into contact with one...not once, but four times.

The most plausible theory about Sasquatch/Bigfoot is that it comes from
Native American stories and legends of the now extinct giant Short-Faced
Bear, Arctodus simus. It was one of the last of the Pleistocene megafauna
to die out and would have stood twelve to fifteen feet tall on its hind
legs.

When I spoke with a bishop about the Curse of Cain thing I asked him if
having dark skin was supposedly a curse then why do so many people of
North European ancestry get skin cancer in New Mexico where even someone
like me gets sunburned at high altitude? He didn't have an answer for
that.